Indiana Public Media News

IU Students, Faculty Rally For Increased Diversity

Posted April 12, 2013

The demonstrators say a stagnant minority admissions rate and a lack of diversity in the school’s faculty needs to be remedied.

Photo: Stan Jastrzebski/WFIU news

Pre-med student Isaiah Sloss speaks at a diversity rally on IU's campus on April 12, 2013.

A group of Indiana University students were joined Thursday by lawmakers and minority members of the IU faculty in a rally to increase diversity at the school.

A group of nearly a hundred students crowded Indiana University’s Sample Gates to urge university administrators to improve upon what they see as a stagnant minority admissions rate and a lack of diversity in the school’s faculty.

Pre-med student Isaiah Sloss attempted to quantify what he sees in his organic chemistry and other science courses.

“[There are] almost zero black faculty and staff – professors who are African-American or Latino, of any minority whatsoever, except for Asian. And to me I feel like that’s a problem,” he says.

Two members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, State Representatives Cherrish Pryor and Robin Shackleford, noted they fought for equality during their time on campus in the 80s and 90s. Pryor says the necessary cash to level the playing field is not being spent.

“We are very concerned about the students here – the number of minority students that are being accepted. [And about] the programs and support services that are underfunded at the university,” she says. “And we are going to continue to fight.”

In a statement, IU spokesman Mark Land noted the University has “increased its financial commitment to attracting minority students” and plans to announce new minority recruitment initiatives soon.

WFIU/WTIU News Senior Editor Stan Jastrzebski spent time as a reporter with WGN Radio in Chicago and as an editor at Network Indiana, an Indianapolis news service. Stan is the winner of awards from the Associated Press, the RTDNA, the Indiana Broadcasters Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. He hosts WFIU's Ask the Mayor and anchors WTIU's InFocus.

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